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The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) is pleased to announce that it is funding eight (8) Mass Casualty Evacuation and Transport Units (MCETU) using funds from federal Metropolitan Medical Response System grants. The platform for the MCETU is a school bus, which is donated by the receiving jurisdiction. The school bus is put through a conversion process, which includes painting, window tinting, adding a spray-in floor liner, installing air conditioning, and installing a conversion kit. The configuration of the MCETU allows transport of up to 18 stretcher patients and 10 seated patients.
The following Hampton Roads jurisdictions and agencies have agreed in principal to donate a school bus for conversion into an MCETU and to make it available to support the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Medical Response System (HRMMRS):
• Chesapeake Fire Department
• Hampton Fire-Rescue
• James City County Fire Department
• Newport News Fire Department
• Norfolk Fire-Rescue
• Portsmouth Fire, Rescue & Emergency Services
• Virginia Beach Fire Department
• York County Department of Fire and Life Safety
This represents a significant milestone in improving our regional preparedness and response capabilities to incidents of significance. The first MCETU was placed in service by the Chesapeake Fire Department on May 1, 2009. The second MCETU, provided by Newport News Fire Department, is nearing completion and should be returned by June 15, 2009. Recently, the Virginia Beach Fire Department received a bus from Virginia Beach Public Schools, which will be converted into the third MCETU. The goal of the HRMMRS is to have four MCETUs in place prior to August 1, 2009, to enhance regional preparedness for the 2009 hurricane season. In accepting the MCETU, these organizations have agreed to use this resource to augment their emergency medical response resources during a mass casualty, disaster or terrorism event as part of the HRMMRS and agreed (when available) to honor mutual aid requests from other Hampton Roads jurisdictions and organizations during mass casualty events that exceed the resources of the requesting party.
Visit our Photo Gallery to view pictues of the MCETUs.
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